Love Again
by justanoutlaw
Summary: Regina lost her husband and son in a terrible car wreck. Years later, she's married to Mal and has adopted Lily. But when her wife brings up the possibility of having another baby, she's unsure.


**I was submitted this prompt by bauerfanstraten: "You want a baby so desperately but I lost my first child and I'm terrified it will happen again." Trigger warning for mention of infant death.**

Regina had never thought she would ever be happy again. After the horrific car accident years prior that claimed the lives of her true loves, she thought she'd spend the rest of her days in darkness. Then one day, a tall sleek blonde walked into her office, batting her beautiful blue eyes. Her name was Maliah "Mal" Page and her friend was in need of a divorce lawyer. Once the case was closed, Regina finally worked up the courage to ask Mal on a date.

Two months in, Mal introduced Regina to her daughter, Lily. She was 3-years-old, dark locks with Mal's eyes. Regina felt her heart swell up with so much love. Ever since Anthony died, she found it hard to be around children. There was something about Lily, though. She clambered onto her lap and showed her books to read.

Months turned to a year. Regina proposed to Mal and they were married in a beautiful ceremony. Life after that was simple. Regina adopted Lily (who was the product of artificial insemination) and Mal moved all their stuff into the Mills mansion. Things were stress for 2 years.

Then Regina could see the fire in Mal's eyes.

It started when their next door neighbor, Mary Margaret, got pregnant. From the minute Mal held baby Neal, Regina knew the talk was coming.

"I want another baby," she whispered when they had gone to bed.

Regina didn't know what to say. She knew the talk had to come sooner or later. Mal had said while they were dating that she didn't want Lily to be her only child, but she understood Regina's hesitation. After all, Regina had lost her own child.

It had been a rainy afternoon, Daniel went to pick up the baby from daycare. He called her from the road and said they would be home in an hour. But that hour came and went and they never returned home. One hour turned to two and soon it was far past Anthony's bedtime.

A cop arrived at her door to inform her of what happened. To that day, Regina still couldn't remember everything. There had been a drunk driver on the road, combined with the terrible weather. Daniel's car was forced off a cliff and both had died on impact.

Regina swore she'd never love again. She was so determined that she had done something permanent, she made sure that she would never get pregnant again. Mal knew that, she understood it.

Yet, she wanted another child.

She would be lying if she said she didn't feel the same. She loved Lily, she considered her, her own. A baby, though. A tiny baby to snuggle and rock to sleep. All babies had that certain smell about them.

And yet, she was terrified. Terrified of losing yet another child, terrified of losing Mal. The fears she had about Lily were bad enough. Could she really go through it all again?

"You don't have to say anything right now," Mal assured her. "If it was just the three of us, that'd be okay. All I need is you and Lily. It was just a thought. There's no pressure."

No pressure. Right.

Regina knew Mal was sincere in her words, but the pressure was there. She was the deciding factor.

At least they weren't in a position where anything could happen before they were ready, she thought to herself. They were two women, no uh-oh pregnancies. If they had another child, he or she would be carefully planned.

However, just as she swore she'd never love again, the baby situation happened just as unexpectedly.

Mary Margaret told them that before she and David had Neal, they had fostered a teenage girl. Her name was Emma Swan, only 18-years-old. Once she aged out of the system, she decided to go off to college. While she was there, she got herself a boyfriend and had found herself pregnant. Knowing there was no way she was ready, she had selected a family.

The day he was born, though, they backed out. They had found out they were pregnant and couldn't handle the stress of both. Neal was still an infant or else Mary Margaret and David would take him in.

"We don't have to go see him," Mal said. "Not if you're not ready."

"I want to," Regina said and she meant it. The minute she got the call, she wasn't sure what to think.

Leaving Lily with their neighbors, they drove 4 hours to Boston. In the nursery, there he was. A chubby baby with big green eyes. He already had wisps of dark brown hair. The moment Regina lifted him into her arms, she knew.

They named him Henry, after Regina's father. He had been one of the few positive aspects of her upbringing. The middle name, Daniel, had been all Mal's idea. She knew her wife had loved before and wanted to honor the man that had treated her so wonderfully.

This family would never replace her first one, Daniel and Anthony forever lived on in Regina's heart.

But it was a new beginning, a chance for her to find the happiness she never thought she would feel again.


End file.
